Santana Sentinent

During a spectacular, six-decade career, multi-Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Carlos Santana has thrilled and mesmerized generations of fans across the globe. His powerfully emotive and mystical alchemy of rock and roll, blues, jazz and Latin music has become that rarity in art: a sound all his own, instantly identifiable yet constantly evolving. For Santana, each song and album represents a lifetime commitment toward expanding all creative boundaries, and in the process he takes listeners on a journey that celebrates life, love and spiritual connection.

Santana’s new album, Sentient, is a retrospective of 11 adventurous and altogether mesmerizing tracks – three of them previously unreleased – compiled by the virtuoso guitarist, remastered and sequenced in a way that allows a new and dramatic story to emerge. As is often the case when the spark of musical magic strikes, Santana was surprised, delighted and receptive. “I’m always driven by passion, emotion and inner instinct,” he says. “When I first heard these tracks floating around in the house, I said, ‘Why don’t we put these all in one place?’”

As Santana continued to listen and began forming the record in his mind, he zeroed in on a point of view that he calls “multi-dimensional.” Quoting one of his idols, Wayne Shorter, it’s “completely new yet totally familiar.” With his senses fully engaged, he seized on the word that perfectly summed up everything he was feeling: Sentient. “It’s someone who’s evolved and has graduated from the animal,” he explains. “Or it’s like a Christmas tree, and all the ornaments are the attributes a sentient man has: gratitude, patience, humility, generosity and consideration.”

The songs that make up Sentient are complex compositionally, but they float by like a dream. There are brilliant collaborations with Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Miles Davis, Paolo Rustichelli, Darryl “dmc” McDaniels and Cindy Blackman Santana, but no matter the mood or genre – whether it’s lush pop or high-intensity cosmic jazz – it’s all part of a common thread. “That’s another thing I learned from Wayne Shorter,” Santana says. “From Stravinsky to James Brown, it's all the same song, meaning it's all connected to the umbilical cord of humanity and planet Earth.”

The album gives us a first listen to a live instrumental cover of Michael Jackson’s haunting ballad “Stranger in Moscow,” recorded in 2007 with producer and drummer Narada Michael Walden’s band. It’s a devastating masterclass performance – Santana’s guitar playing is by turns soulful and poetic, blitzing and blinding, and always breathtakingly imaginative. “Narada knew that I loved the song, so he arranged it with his band,” he remembers. “I showed up and we played it with no rehearsal. I’m basically singing it with my guitar. I’m visualizing Michael Jackson and what he would do – I got pretty close. I think when Michael listened to it, wherever he is, he smiled and said, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’”

We’re treated to a new view of “Please Don’t Take Your Love,” the heavenly slice of funky, soulful seduction that paired Santana with the incomparable Smokey Robinson. The original version, featured on Robinson’s 2009 album, Time Flies When You’re Having Fun, saw Santana contrast Robinson’s shimmering vibrato with searing, soul-shaking soloing. The alternate take on Sentient is no less emotionally wrenching, but as Santana notes, it boasts a never-before-heard guitar performance. “I went to the studio and did my own thing. I said, ‘Let’s just roll it.’ I did another take with Smokey sort of guiding me. Smokey loved them both, so he wound up combining the two. What’s on Sentient is the first version.”

Sentient offers listeners a tantalizing preview of Cindy Blackman Santana’s next album with “Coherence,” a remarkable musical exchange between two peerless players – Carlos reaching for points unknown with wah-drenched, freak flag-flying fearlessness, and Cindy locking down an epic groove while also breaking out lethal jabs, uppercuts and hooks. “Cindy is a godsend because she’s such a great mentor,” Santana says. “I learn things from her Art Blakey, Tony Williams and Roy Haynes, because I’m a drummer at heart. We bring what we love out of each other without words. It’s a marriage made in seventh heaven.”

Another impeccable match – Michael Jackson and Carlos Santana – resulted in “Whatever Happens,” the haunting, Latin-infused ballad that was one of the most critically acclaimed singles from the late singer’s 2001 album, Invincible. Jackson enlisted Santana to lend his signature guitar work on the track, and here it’s been remastered in a way that makes each note more present – more passionate. “As I do with any singer, whether it’s Smokey Robinson or Michael Jackson, I try to honor their voice,” Santana says.

In 1996, Santana received an invitation from noted Italian jazz-rock composer and producer Paolo Rustichelli to participate in the recording of his new album, Mystic Man. “He even wrote a song for me,” Santana says. “I felt so grateful.” The guitarist not only performed on the hypnotic cut “Full Moon,” but he also collaborated on three more – the romantic ballad “Vers Le Soleil,” the Latin jazz groover “Get On” and the transporting “Rastafario,” the latter two featuring none other than trailblazing trumpet legend Miles Davis. The intuitive interplay among these master musicians, the way they weave ideas and emotions and never repeat themselves, is positively thrilling. All four cuts are accounted for on Sentient.

Santana’s dynamic and uplifting “Let the Guitar Play,” a wondrous reimagining of his earlier “Song for Cindy,” features a poetic mid-song rap by Darryl “dmc” McDaniels of Run DMC. The guitarist teamed with producers Narada Michael Walden, Lino Nicolosi and the Nicolosi Team to create this message of positivity, and the remastered Radio Version heard here is a sparkling sonic joy.

“I’ll Be Waiting” goes back to 1977, from the Santana album Moonflower. It’s a luscious soul-pop confection punctuated with the guitarist’s effervescent soloing. “That one has a special sentimental value to me,” Santana says. “The sound of the guitar and the singer [Greg Walker] sound like a hug – a very personal, intimate hug.”

Sentient concludes with the title cut to Santana’s 1987 album Blues for Salvador. This striking duet with keyboardist Chester D. Thompson sizzles with the guitarist’s forceful and poignant leads. “That song is all about the love I have for my son, Salvador,” Santana reveals. “It also represents my lifetime of learning the blues from the Kings – B.B., Freddie and Albert – and others like Buddy Guy and Otis Rush.” “Blues for Salvador” won Santana his first Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental.

For Santana, Sentient represents select snapshots and treasured moments in time. He marvels, “I can listen to this album and go, ‘Did this really happen? To be with Miles, Smokey, Michael Jackson and Paolo – is this really real? Here I am, living the dream.’” And that dream continues as he eyes more creative highs: “I'm almost 80 years old, and I'm happy to tell you that I'm still relevant. I can still go in there with Wyclef Jean or any of the rappers, or Taylor Swift or whoever, and still be relevant. I’m not a stick on a refrigerator.”